The Small Rewards of Duck Hunting

Kyle Wintersteen,

Senior Associate Editor

He walks through the door utterly exhausted, a touch of frostbite on his fingers obtained while picking up decoys. All he wants is a large amount of food and a light brown beverage, but ducks must be plucked and guns must be oiled. Such is life for a man who lives for waterfowl season.

If you consider yourself a duck hunter but have never looked to the skies from your blind and asked, "What am I doing here?" either you have no care for your financial or physical well-being, or you aren't paying attention. We spend more money on guns, boats, decoys and other waterfowl accoutrements than any mother-in-law would ever approve of, just to lather it all in marsh slop. Our trucks are dented from sliding down icy boat ramps, and their wiring is shot from the strain of trailer-light illumination. It's too hot in teal season, too darn cold by the time the mallards arrive. The wind either blows too hard, not hard enough or in the wrong direction. Or it rains—not just a sprinkle, but a downpour in which no self-respecting duck would ever fly. Unfortunately for us, old Fred believes ducks fly in the rain, and if one member of the group wants to hunt, we all hunt.

So, as we partake in this exercise in cognitive dissonance, let us consider the following: What's the reward for all this trouble? It isn't trophies, at least not the kind recognized by Boone and Crockett, but it is a fallacy to say there are no trophies in duck hunting. Just as deer hunters enter the woods knowing this could be the day they shoot a Booner, the duck hunter knows any day in the marsh could be the one in which he finally kills a drake canvasback, an old bull sprig or four drake mallards.

Yes, waterfowling has its rewards. For many of us it is the beauty and diversity of the ducks themselves that drive our souls, and we know that when John Cartier wrote that he'd "rather shoot one 24-ounce bluebill than six tons of elephant," he meant it, for we have felt duck hunting's call.

We know that when a duck hunter eyes a dozen mallards cupping their wings and pitching into the blocks—whether he is a Midwest farm boy on a backyard pothole or a New York lawyer hunting with a guide—he is the richest man alive. On a good day, the hunter may experience this treat several times and, as he returns home with two or three mallards, he'd swear he is a king.

Soon the rich aroma of roasting ducks and Hoppe's No. 9 fills the home. The news reports storms to the north. Bingo! That's all that's needed for the duck hunter to develop an irrational optimism for tomorrow.

Bedtime comes early. A worn out black Lab with a graying muzzle lies at the foot of the bed. A very understanding "duck-hunting widow" is under the sheets.Just before he dozes off, the duck hunter reflects upon the day's events, kids himself that nobody's ever had it so good and considers the plan for the morning—a strong westerly wind is expected; the ducks will probably tuck back in the slough. By 4 a.m. he'll be ready to do it all over again.

So, while befuddled observers ponder our willingness to suffer waterfowling's best miseries, we'll continue seeking its many rewards. For even as we flare the only ducks of the day, our dog breaks on a passing swan and we discover too late that high tide is 3 inches higher than our decoy lines are long, we know our sport is worth every ounce of frustration. We will hunt until the season ends or the ice is too thick to sledgehammer open. Then we'll busy ourselves painting decoys, patching waders and repairing marriages until fall's glorious return brings with it flights of ducks and another opening day. For despite its hardships, the duck hunter knows he is a participant in the greatest recreation ever invented.

Find the Hotspots

by Mike Hanback

Field Editor

The start of the rut can vary by days or a week depending on region. Determine whether the "chase stage" is on by checking muddy fields or creek bottoms for big (buck) and small (doe) tracks that indicate running, then set up in an area like one described below.

Don't hunt over rubs.

Hunt funnels along buck travel routes between feeding and bedding areas laced with lots of rubs that indicate lots of deer traffic to up your odds of seeing bucks.

Transition zones are good bets.

Bucks prowl "break lines" between pines and hardwoods, rubbing and scraping as they move. Same goes for transitions between crops and woods: If you determine bucks are prowling the edge between those two zones, set a stand and sit tight.

The weather is your friend.

My research suggests bucks rut hardest when the temperature hovers between 25-30 degrees. Be sure to check scrapes one to two days after it rains or snows. If they've been pawed, hunt them.

Find fence lines.

Those that link crops with a point of woods 100-200 yards away can't be ignored. No good trees for a stand? Set up a blind on a downwind edge where the fence dumps into the woods. "Small" is the operative word&#151;don't build a Taj Mahal.

Establish a "pressure plan."

Since everybody and his brother hunts the rut, a thick-cover draw a half-mile or more off a crop field might produce results, even in the absence of rut sign. Once guns boom, bucks will find the sanctuary and pile into it.

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1.3 million

Number of turkeys in the United States in 1973

7 million

Number of turkeys in the United States today, thanks to efforts by hunters, wildlife restoration programs and the National Wild Turkey Federation

22.5"

Longest beard ever recorded by the NWTF; the bird, an Eastern, was taken by Cody May of Bowie, Texas, in 2007

35.81 pounds

Heaviest bird ever recorded by the NWTF; the bird, an Eastern, was taken by Kyle Nook of Guthrie, Iowa, in 2001

10

Average number of days a turkey hunter spends in the woods each year

2.5 million

Number of turkey hunters in the United States

Data according to the National Wild Turkey Federation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

fast fact

The cackling goose, a smaller-bodied goose prominent in Canada and Alaska, is a tundra-breeder with considerably more black plumage than the Canada. At one time, the cackling goose was considered the smallest subspecies of the Canada, but is now recognized as a separate species.